urBFF912

Isabel January 24, 2011 8 th Grade **__Maria Mitchell__** //“We must face the light and not bury our heads in Earth. I am hopeful that scientific investigation pushed on and on, will reveal new ways in which God works and brings//  //to us deeper revelations of the wholly unknown. The physical and the spiritual seem to be at present separated by an impassable gulf, but at any second, the gulf may be overleapt, possibly a new revelation may come.”// - Maria Mitchell

There are so many women who are scientists nowadays. But do you ever wonder who the first professional female astronomer was? It was none other than Maria Mitchell. However, Maria Mitchell is an unsung hero. She’s not nearly as popular as Copernicus and Galileo, even though her work greatly furthered research on astronomy. **__The Early Years__**

Maria Mitchell was born on August 1 st, 1818 in Nantucket to Quaker parents Lydia and William Mitchell, one of a total of ten children. Maria was lucky to be born into that family, because Quakers believe that women and men should have equal education, which was not the common sentiment in the 19 th century. William was an amateur astronomer, and Maria inherited her love for math and science from him. William home schooled Maria until she was 14, focusing mainly on math and science, at which she was very talented. At 14, Maria’s parents sent her to Cyrus Pierce’s new school for girls. Cyrus Pierce believed that women and men should have equal education, just like the Mitchell family believed. Maria excelled greatly in the school and at age 16, she was teaching math there. Maria helped her father with a lot of the things that normally only professional astronomers could do. Her dad set chronometers for whaling ships, because whaling was very popular in Nantucket at the time. Chronometers were instruments of navigation that had to be set very precisely, or the ship could veer completely off course. To aid her father, Maria sometimes corrected chronometers with a sextant for the sailors. At age 12, her dad made her responsible for recording and charting a solar eclipse. She then used this data to calculate the longitude and latitude of her house. At age 17, she mapped all of Nantucket with her father. **__The Comet__** At a party on the night of October 1 st 1847, Maria excused herself so she could go to the roof and look at the stars through her 4-inch, high quality telescope. It was then that she spotted a fuzzy thing above the North Star that didn’t appear on any of her charts of the sky. That fuzzy thing turned out to be a comet, and Maria had discovered it just two days before Father de Vico of the Vatican Observatory in Rome discovered the same one. At the time, the King of Denmark was holding a contest: whoever discovered a new comet would receive a prestigious gold medal. Father de Vico reported his discovery just days before Maria reported hers, therefore Father de Vico was set to win the award. But Maria’s friends, including the president of Harvard University, sent letters out to prove Maria should win. In the end, the King of Denmark awarded the medal to Maria. The Maria Mitchell comet passes close to us in its orbit every one million years. Maria was very proud of her discovery. She believed that even a small discovery such as her comet was of great importance. She once said: //“The step, however small, which is in the advance of the world, shows the greatness of the person, whether the step be taken with brain, with heart, or with hands.”// A comet is ball of ice that lets out gas and dust. They travel in long, elliptical orbits and they can be seen without using a telescope if they pass close to the Sun. The gas and dust in them reflect sunlight and also the gases release energy they take from the Sun causing them to glow, which helps the unaided eye see them. There are millions of comets in our solar system. Comets were Maria’s first step towards becoming a professional astronomer. At age 18, Maria was offered a job as the librarian for the new Antheneum Library in Nantucket. She eagerly accepted. At the library, she read constantly. Since she was talented at teaching herself, the library was perfect for her. She expanded her knowledge drastically while working there. Since astronomy was her real passion, Maria still took the time to observe the sky through her telescope regularly. The telescopes in the 19 th century in the United States were very advanced, which probably made Maria’s discoveries and stargazing a lot easier. America had the two largest telescopes in the world by the end of the 1800s. In the late 18 th century, the quality of glass had improved, which meant the quality of the lenses, or refractors also improved. Refractors are said to be an astronomer’s best tool. Glassmakers perfected glassmaking by eliminating air bubbles and make the glass flawless by mixing different types. This flawless glass produced flawless telescopes. After the discovery of her comet, Maria quickly gained fame. She was the first woman allowed to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which was and still is considered a great honor. She went to their meetings and was thrilled to finally be in the scientific “inner circle.” She would be the only woman allowed to join for the next 100 years. Maria was also offered a position working for the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, where she computed and predicted the daily position of Venus. All this led to her being declared the first professional female astronomer. **__Europe__** In 1855, Maria found herself growing bored with her work at the Antheneum. One of her life’s dreams had been to visit Europe, so this became her next goal. However, at that same time, her mother Lydia fell very ill and Maria had to care for her. Finally, in 1856, Maria began her journey to Europe, wanting to have some precious time of her own and to take a break from her successful, but monotonous, life. She traveled as the chaperone for Prudence Swift, the daughter of a wealthy banker. It was unadvised for young women to travel alone in the 19 th century. The trip was tedious. She went directly through the South and then on a steamship bound for Europe. The first stop on the trip was England. Maria visited the house of the son of the famous scientist William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus, and the Prime Meridian. She left for Paris without Prudence, who had to return home because of financial issues. This was very daring for a woman of her time, as women didn’t travel unaccompanied woman. There, she visited the astronomer Leverrier at the Paris Observatory. Next up was Rome, where she visited where Galileo was punished for his theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, which is now known as accurate but was deemed completely erroneous by the powerful Catholic Church in Galileo’s time. She also toured the Vatican Observatory. Last, she met Alexander von Humboldt, a scientist who wrote an incredible book on the cosmos called Cosmos. She loved her trip through Europe and said//: “The habit of traveling once adopted can not easily be given up.”// However, in 1858 Maria returned to Nantucket to care for her dying mother. **__The Later Years and her Influence__** Maria cared for her weak mother for three years until she finally died. This unhinged Maria and her father greatly. Seeking a fresh start, they moved to Boston. Then, she went to a new college being built: Vassar College, which was a woman’s school that was supposed to have the same quality of education as Harvard, which was an all boys school at the time. Maria took a job offer there as the professor of astronomy. Her students loved her and were constantly naming her as their inspiration or role model. However, Maria was unconventional and not ladylike, which upset her more conservative students. But the opposition she felt towards acting as others wanted a “lady” to act helped spark her desire to fight for woman’s rights. Still, her students admired her, and they meant the world to her. She once announced to a graduating class: //“For women, there are undoubtedly great difficulties in the path, but so much more to overcome. First, no woman should say. “I am but a woman.” But a woman! What more can you ask be. Born a woman, born with the average brain of humanity, Born with more than the average heart, If you are mortal what higher destiny could you have. No matter where you are nor what you are, You are power. Your influence is incalculable.”// Maria was very opposed to living the life she was meant to live, being a woman in the 1800s. She never married. She led the third annual Woman’s Congress and served the Association for the Advancement of Women. She was also the first professional female astronomer. Even though most men and even some women frowned upon her views, she remained defiant. It may have had to do with the way she was raised: her parents educated her the same way they educated their boys. Maria did most of her work for women’s rights toward the end of her life, after her father died. She worked for Vassar until the last moment possible, demonstrating admirable dedication. Maria died on June 28, 1889 from ill health, only a year after she retired. Her influence on the world was incredible: each year, the Maria Mitchell Award is awarded to a woman who has contributed greatly to science. There is a crater on the moon named after her, and her comet will be seen again in a million years or so. She was given many honorary degrees after her death, including one from Columbia college. She was given numerous awards and honors. Finally, in 1994, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Maria Mitchell opened a doorway for women who wanted to pursue a career in science. She inspired everyone around her: her family, her students and anyone who had the privilege to meet her. She left behind a legacy of women’s rights activists and scientists. Even though she was been dead for over 100 years, she is still remembered as the first professional female astronomer. //“The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited// //in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.”// -Maria Mitchell **__Bibliography__** Works Cited Albers, Henry. Maria Mitchell: a Life in Journals and Letters. Clinton Corners, NY:

College Avenue, 2001. Print. "Biography of Maria Mitchell." Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health,

Science, Education & More.. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

Gormley, Beatrice. Maria Mitchell: the Soul of an Astronomer. Grand Rapids, MI:

Eerdmans for Young Readers, 2004. Print. "An Islander Named Maria Mitchell - â€” Plum TV." Welcome to PlumTV.com -

Home to All Things Aspen, Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard, Miami Beach, Nantucket, Sun Valley, Telluride, Vail. 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

"Maria Mitchell Association | Biography." Maria Mitchell Association | Home. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

“Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award. (Teacher’s Toolbox.” Techniques 78.1 (2003): 54. General OneFile. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.

O’ Dell, C. R. “Mitchell, Maria.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.

“Golden Era of Refractors.” Tools of Cosmology. 2010, http://www.aip.org/history/ cosmology/tools/tools-refractors.htm (Dec. 21, 2010). Amigos School.

Yeomans, Donald K. “Comet.” World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar125580.